new teacher profiles
Stuck in the ‘middle’ — and loving it
May 8, 2008 3:02 PM
A teacher had a huge influence on Robert Andruskiewicz’s life, and now he’s trying to do the same for his middle school students.
“Middle school is really crazy. The kids are all over the place all the time. I love teaching in a middle school,” said Robert Andruskiewicz.
The brand new teacher, fresh out of Math for America, has found his calling at the brand new MS 588, the Middle School for Art and Philosophy, in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, housed in the building of IS 252, which is being phased out.
Part of the reason why Andruskiewicz and middle school is a match made in heaven is because he’s a “kid at heart.”
He was a kid who struggled. And a teacher saved him.
“Third grade was a turning point for me,” Andruskiewicz said. “I was ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and so had tremendous problems doing the work, not handling the material but focusing on it. I was falling behind and my teacher would stay after school with me while I did my work.”
The beleaguered kid kept at it twice a week for two separate stints. The first time around he caught up on his work and no longer needed the extra time. Yet without it he fell behind again. Once again his teacher took him under her wing.
“I also had a partial speech impediment and some other some minor things, and was in other programs such as speech class,” Andruskiewicz said.
Finally, in 4th grade, he was officially diagnosed. “I was put on medication and it made a world of difference,” he said. “I focused better. But I always think back to that year in 3rd grade, to my teacher. Without her I would’ve been held back.”
By the time Andruskiewicz graduated from his class of 200 in rural southeastern Connecticut, he knew he wanted “to get into a profession that helps people.”
At first he wanted to be a psychologist. “But I came to realize that teachers had influenced and helped me the most, especially since I came from a divorced family, and teachers have extra influence on kids in that situation,” he said. “So I started getting involved in working with kids and it seemed like a perfect fit.”
With rather perfect intuition, Andruskiewicz knows how to reach pre-adolescent hearts. Talking with them about their lives. Being open to their energy. Shooting basketball with them to teach ratios, asking the class to figure out who did best based on how many baskets a kid sank out of the number of tries.
For a unit on percentages, he brought in menus, had the kids pick their orders, total the bill and figure out the tip. Record sales of competing rap stars have come in handy as well for teaching different mathematical concepts.
“It’s tough for kids to get math in general and it’s hard to keep them engaged if they’re not interested,” he said.
On top of that, middle schools are tough places to teach anything, he feels.
“Not only because of changing hormones but because the kids are coming into a different class structure, with new rules and expectations,” he said. “It’s a totally new experience and they’re struggling with their identity. To me it’s totally rational the way they behave.”
He pointed out adjusting to change is often a challenge at any age.
“We’re asking a lot from middle school kids, to be able to adjust to all these changes in a short period of time, because before you know it they’re on the way to high school,” he said.
Yet Andruskiewicz finds middle school kids a great age group to work with.
“They’re mature enough so you can have a good conversation with them, but they’re still kids. Most of them just need someone to talk to who is willing to listen and help them with their problems.”
In his short time at the head of a middle school classroom and as chapter leader, Andruskiewicz already has clear ideas on what middle schools need.
“They need a lot more support than other schools,” he said. “From what I read and what I know they’re considered so tough that a lot of teachers stay away from them. But they wouldn’t be so tough if they had smaller classes, more teachers and more counselors to give them the extra attention they need.”
Andruskiewicz also wants to see more after-school programs that allow kids to explore and provide much-needed outlets for self-expression. He wants to see curriculums that “go beyond the core subjects, that capture their interest on a sophisticated level and keep them excited about school. They’re long past the stage of being excited just because they went outside and looked at spider webs.”
And he wants to see a lot more “hands-on support” for middle school teachers so it doesn’t have to feel like “working within a microcosm.”
Nevertheless, Andruskiewicz plans on being a middle school teacher for his entire career “despite how hard it is. There’s never a boring day at a middle school. I don’t see myself burning out. And it’s amazing how attached I’ve grown to the kids.”
So attached, in fact, that when Andruskiewicz took his first real break over winter vacation, he found himself missing being at school with the kids.
“My advisor said I should probably make a visit to the doctor,” he laughed.
